Isabel Healthcare Blog

Blood Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM) takes place each September in countries around the world and is dedicated to raising awareness about what blood cancers are, who is affected and calling for improvements in patient care. A recent survey by the NHS in the UK revealed that blood cancers are taking longer to diagnose than most other cancers. Over a third of blood cancer patients visiting their family doctor with symptoms needed to see their doctor at least 3 times before receiving a diagnosis. Phil Reynolds from the UK charity, Bloodwise, explains this is due to a number of factors: “including a lack of awareness of blood cancer symptoms and the ease in which many symptoms can be confused with more common conditions. He continues: “for some types of blood cancer, early diagnosis can have a significant impact on outcome for patients” which is why BCAM is so vitally important to help reduce delayed diagnosis.

Your skin is the largest organ in the body, protecting your internal organs, skeleton and muscles from the outside world, regulating temperature and vitamin D absorption, and giving us the sense of touch. As skin is such a large and complex part of our body, it’s no wonder that there are many conditions and diseases, both rare and common, that are associated with the skin. We’ve previously written a blogpost on all things skin, from its functions to the most common skin conditions, but this week we are focussing on one particular skin condition. August is Psoriasis Awareness Month in the USA, so read on to hear all the main symptoms, causes, treatments and information on Psoriasis.

There has been a lot of talk this week, both in the healthcare world and beyond, about Artificial Intelligence (AI). Babylon's AI chatbot was released a few weeks ago, and has since come under some scrutiny, on social media and from the press, as to its accuracy in diagnosing patients correctly. IBM Watson, a system developed for many years now and which has cost the technology company billions of dollars, was also questioned as to its efficacy in a hospital setting, and whether it helped doctors to speed up and improve their diagnostic processes. At Isabel, we have several core beliefs that all feed into our mission of improving diagnosis. While we do not wish to directly address the Babylon and IBM Watson cases, the talk around AI has definitely intensified over the last few days, and we want to be part of that conversation.

A cough is the rapid expulsion of air from the lungs when the air passages are irritated. Cells within the air passages become irritated by fluids, mucus or material and a cough reflex is initiated, forcing air out of the lungs under high pressure to clear the irritating substances and to protect the lungs. A cough reflex can be voluntary or involuntary. In this post we go over the several types of cough and their common causes, as well as discussing symptoms you shouldn't ignore when you have a cough.

During July, Juvenile Arthritis Awareness Month will see campaigns around the world dedicated to making us aware of the painful and sometimes debilitating symptoms children as young as two have to endure and why an early diagnosis is critical in managing this condition. There are several different types of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA), some milder and some more severe, so getting an early diagnosis on the type of arthritis is critical to successful treatment.

As regular subscribers may know, each month we spotlight a world or national health day on which we think we can help spread awareness. This month brings World Hepatitis Day on 28th July. Back in 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) and 194 co-operating countries around the globe pledged to eradicate hepatitis by 2030. Unfortunately, most countries are not on target at all, and the main reason for that is lack of screening or vaccinations, and therefore diagnosis. Currently there are 300 million people living with hepatitis unknowingly, and potentially spreading the disease through contaminated water, blood or in rare cases sexual contact. There are several types of hepatitis with little or no symptoms, so regular screenings or vaccinations are the best way to detect, treat and eradicate the disease. In this blogpost, we’ll explain what hepatitis is, go over the main types of hepatitis, and talk about the treatments and vaccines available that can help stop the spread and get us back on target for eradicating the disease by 2030.

Over the last decade, the use of AI and digital tools within the healthcare sector has grown exponentially, from improving a product for monitoring or treating conditions such as a heart monitor or an artificial pancreas, to creating a system that can help a doctor to do their job in the most efficient way, such as a symptom checker or a differential diagnosis tool. There are now a large range of symptom checkers on the market, and a growing interest in their use, not just at home by patients, but as a tool in doctors' surgeries and hospitals to help with care direction, initial presentation of symptoms, and patient engagement. With so many tools available, it is difficult to distinguish the different types of symptom checkers, what they can offer and how they can be used in a professional medical environment. We’ve written a white paper on patient engagement and symptom checkers, outlining the need for such tools, the different types available, and the best way to test and implement a symptom checker in an institution. In this blogpost, we will discuss one element of that white paper, touching on the different types of symptom checkers you can find on the market today, and their pros and cons.

Vomiting, also known as emesis, is the forceful expulsion of the contents of the stomach via the mouth and occasionally the nose. Nausea is the discomfort or unpleasant feeling which a person experiences before vomiting. It is possible to experience nausea without any vomiting occurring. Nausea and vomiting are both symptoms rather than a disease. 

Diabetes Week took place last week in the UK. Around the world charities and healthcare organisations are working hard throughout the year to increase awareness of this potentially fatal, life-long condition that looks set to become a crisis of epic proportions if more is not done to slow it down. The ever increasing cases of pre-diabetes, a condition when blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be classed as diabetes, is a global concern that could have massive implications towards the future burden on healthcare systems. As an example, in England alone, the prevalence of pre-diabetes more than tripled between 2003-11 and it is now estimated that a third of the English population could be in a pre-diabetic state.

Thursday 14th June sees World Blood Donor day, organised each year since 2004 by the World Health Organization (WHO). We last blogged about World Blood Donor Day back in 2015, and we think this awareness day is so important to highlight. The universal nature of this day reflects the universal need for blood, for all countries and many diseases or injuries. Each year, a different host country is given the responsibility of running the campaign and event on the 14th June, to help emphasise this global endeavour. This year, it is the turn of Greece, who have chosen the following slogan to accompany their campaign: “Be there for someone else. Give blood. Share life.”